American DJ Supply captured the "Lighting Show of the Year" Award at the 1998 LDI Show, held in Phoenix in November. The top honor was presented to American DJ for its lighting/sound production "Images of Arizona," a 30-minute display of intelligent lights and other special effects choreographed to the Grand Canyon Suite by classical composer Ferde Grofe.

Conceived and directed by American DJ general manager Scott Davies, the award-winning presentation utilized more than a dozen of the companys lighting and special effects products and its new wizard-like controller, the Show Designer, to conjure images evocative of the Arizona landscape. Run continuously at American DJs LDI booth, the three-act show took enthralled viewers through the many incarnations of an Arizona desert day -- the unfolding of daybreak, the animated splendor of high noon, the explosion of a sudden afternoon storm and, as a finale, the settling calm of evening.

"The show was a celebration of the dramatic natural elements of Arizona, this years LDI site," commented Davies. "It was also an illustration of the wide range of moods and emotions that can be evoked through lighting, as well as a demonstration of the amazing technical capabilities of American DJs lighting and sound equipment."

"Winning the LDI award was a real honor, because it means that Images of Arizona was successful in accomplishing what we set out to do," added Davies. "The award is a tribute not only to American DJs products, but to the evolution of special effects lighting in general as a vehicle for artistic expression."

Among the American DJ lighting effects "starring" in the Images of Arizona production were two exciting new DMX intelligent fixtures, the Patend Light, a centerpiece for large venues that features unique rotating gobos, and Virtual Beam, a revolutionary unit with pie-shaped dichroics that is compatible with the companys SmarTtec Family of Intelligent Lighting. Other DMX-compatible units in the "Cast of Characters" included: the MAX; X-Treme; X-Cel; X-Cess; and the brand-new Sidewinder, an intelligent rotating barrel effect that led off the show by ushering in the Arizona mornings first rays of light.

The show also featured Water Columns, 5-foot color-changing water towers equipped with DMX channels, as well as intelligent pinspots and strobes. Additional special effects were provided by American DJ bubble machines and foggers.

Perhaps most impressive piece of equipment of all was the Show Designer, a new mega-controller from American DJ, which orchestrated the movements of the many players in "Images of Arizona" with astounding precision control. One of the most broad-spectrum controllers ever developed, the Show Designer was designed to control a wide variety of DMX intelligent lighting fixtures from many manufacturers. It can control up to 512 channels, and has the capability of handling 16 large fixtures (up to 32 channels each) or 16 groups of smaller fixtures. The Show Designer can hold up to 1024 scenes, 512 presets, 256 chases and 256 shows.

"We actually used two Show Designers to control Images of Arizona," said Davies. "The Show Designer was really put to the test, having to handle so many diverse effects simultaneously with such precise accuracy, and it passed with flying colors!"

Sound for the show was provided by American DJ Audio products, including the XDM-3633 Commander Mixer, DCDPRO-300 CD Player and V-2000 Amplifier. The production was synchronized via MIDI using Q-Base By Stineberg on a PC. Programming was done by Isaac Young and Ron Ramirez.

"I would like to thank everyone associated with American DJ winning this award, including the folks at LDI for holding the competition," said Davies. "Contests like these are good for our entire industry because they drive everyone to strive for excellence."

This isnt the first time American DJ Supply has won an LDI "Lighting Show of the Year" Award. At the 1997 LDI Show in Las Vegas, American DJ took "Lighting Show of the Year" honors in the Small Booth Category. "This year we moved up to the best of show category," pointed out Davies, "and were going to try our hardest to three-peat next year."